Babys Come from Storks, and Sex is Unnecessary. Right?

           Sexual repression as a concept has been with the readings in this class since the syllabus titled it “The impossible, perverse and strange.” Perversion is simply a cultural association of sex with the negative. Sex is a natural part of life, and there is no innate reason for it to be considered wrong. Yet, history demonstrates that in the past, such as during the Victorian era, that sex is in fact improper. To pervert something means to turn it from what is right or proper, and when society decided sex was perverted it tried to eliminate it altogether. The evidence of humanities continual existence shows that society found that was impossible and chose to instead suppress the sexual nature of people. As such, sexual repression is a common factor in many different societies, and often represents the “dark underbelly” of those societies. Sex is associated with all sorts of negative things which is why whole cultures try to ignore and repress it. However, repression is not just a cultural act, but also one of identity. For example sex, as base act, is one of the few things that humans have in common with animals. In an effort to separate themselves from the animals and appear “refined” people will claim to cast it off. In this manner the repression of sex becomes a characteristic of anyone wanting to be “refined”. The need to hide the sexual portion of one’s personal identity is almost as old as the deed itself, and in fact part of that person or character’s identity as well. Depending on the reasons for repression, the nature of sex defines people and characters differently. This means that the question of sexual repression, as many of our readings have shown, is not about the “if” of a character repressing their sexual side, but the “why?” The answers to these questions have trickled out across the semester revealing various snippets about each character in the readings.

“The Bloody Chamber” is one of the stories in which this is most clear. Our heroine mentions that she fears that the marquis can see the beginnings of a perversion in her, and indeed he might. What is more concerning is that she feels that it is within her in the first place. If it were not, how could he see it, and why should she worry? We are lead to believe that she is innocent for exactly the reasons Susilo says in Burden of Blood but that seems to be merely a front, because her disobedience, seems to be more deliberate in agency than accidental. Though she may not have been planning to open the forbidden door since the day she arrived, the action itself is in direct opposition to the man trying to control her making it an act of rebellion rather than happenstance.

As stated in 50 Shades of Bloody Chamber and the ensuing comment the ruby choker is indeed a fascinating symbol. The choker does in fact represent all those things, carnal desire, wealth, and submission, but I feel there is more to it. A choker is binding, worn tightly, and because of that proximity, the choker becomes more of a symbol of the girl wearing it that some other stand alone article worn. A dress might symbolize chastity but could come off during sex. Shoes and a tiara might also be “symbols” of the girl, but are ultimately capable of being separated from her. However a choker especially in the context of the story, likely stay on, even during sex. It makes the girl herself a fetish object. Though she may have once appeared naïve and chaste, whatever the marquis may see in her is brought to the surface by the sheer presence of the choker. The heroine of “The Bloody Chamber” is terrified not of what someone else may do to her, but by what may ultimately be inside her waiting to escape. This sort of fear is what would cause her to strive to repress that side, though the story seems to claim that exposure to an environment accepting of that “darkness”, such as the marquis castle, could bring it out regardless.

           “MyLast Duchess” is not far from “Bloody Chamber” when referring to women and sex. The poem shows how harshly society wanted any form of sexuality repressed. The Duke kills his Duchess simply because she “smiled” too much. We are only left to imagine what he may have done should she have actually strayed. Duke, you silver tounged devilyou, brings to the forefront this level of control and individualizes it, but again I think this can be drawn out further. Society was at a stage in which sex was to monogamous and not mentioned. The case of “My Last Duchess” is extreme, but not inaccurate, because women who could not follow the rules of society were looked down upon to such an extent that this period made popular the “fallen woman” archetype. It seemed any extent of accepting your sexuality or embracing it could brand you a sexual deviant.

Speaking of, we talked in depth of Oscar Wilde, and his case. The case of Oscar Wilde is often used as the defining keystone for demonstrating the repression present in Victorian society. Wilde is a venerable portrait of the era. There was only a brief post about Wilde's “The Importance of Being Earnest” in which he was described as mocking Victorian society, but Wilde himself flew in the face of Victorian society. In the Adut article it is stated that Victorian society would have normally tolerated people such as Oscar Wilde, and that his case was actually a manner of degree of blatancy rather than of just being homosexual. This is likely wishful thinking, I can hardly find evidence for this, in history or literature. In this manner I am inclined to agree with Hera Cook in Anna Clark's article. Sexual expression is indeed inhibited by the negative associations it holds. Wilde himself, was a well known homosexual, and made allusions to such things in his writings, especially The Picture of Dorian Gray. This too was discussed in the Clark article which explains that homosexuality was looked down upon beginning very early in history. As an aesthetic Wilde was bound to be flamboyant and his whole personage was one of acceptance of himself. Despite the consequences of his sexuality and the public struggles he had, Wilde embodied sexual acceptance. Society however responded by putting a well known, if not respected author and artists in prison. In a sense the imprisonment of Wilde was a physical representation of Victorian society's repression of sexuality.

Both Case in Point, and Hidden Hyde, describe their surprise at the sexual implications of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, yet their understanding of the story is spot on. Jekyll is, like Wilde and his imprisonment, a representation of the two sides of Victorian society. Especially appropriate is Hidden Hyde's characterization of Jekyll and Hyde as the ego and id respectively. Hyde's darker more devious nature is in constant conflict with Jekyll who is the face for society attempting to control those desires. Despite that, the whole story occurs because Jekyll tries to rid himself of the urges that become the personality Hyde. In group discussion, the point was made that in the text Hyde (as sexuality) is innate in the person who is Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll in turn states that he always knew he had “dark urges”, and it was mentioned (again in discussion) that Jekyll is most like Victorian society because he was unwilling to get rid of the potion and forsake Hyde altogether. One of my group members also suggested that the connection between Hyde and sex is further developed in the fact that his is ugly, but for no “discernible reason”. Victorian society might see sex as this devious, animalistic, base act, but it creates life, and is only given that negative connotation by society itself.

If sexuality is repressed most frequently with negative associations then “Why Shouldna Poor Folk Mowe” provides excellent evidence as well. Burn’s words here make both a social and sexual statement. During class some fairly basic conclusions were made about how the poor have nothing to enjoy but sex, while the upper classes enjoy finery and power. Once we were deeper involved in the discussion however, the fact that many terrible things could have been avoided had the rich had a “mowe” instead of committing the aforementioned deeds, provided some interesting insight. The poor are not capable of making the choices that the ruling class is, so they mowe instead. This does two things, first it creates an association between the poor and sex, our negative association, and secondly it puts sex on the same level of the things that the rich did. In the second connection the act of sex is interchangeable with other deeds, in a “Instead you could have…” mentality.

       Out over the Rhine proud Prussia wad shine,

       To spend his best blood he did vow;

       But Frederic had better ne'er forded the water,

       But spent as he docht in a mowe.

In this Burns almost argues against sexual repression, instead claiming that things would be better if the ruling class had “less time on their hands.”

Repression in the literature we read was not only about class distinction. It would be impossible to make an argument regarding the presence of sexual repression in literature and ignore the influence of the church. In Crazy Jane.. whatsmypassowrd? mentions that the bishop looks down upon Jane in “Crazy Jane Talks to the Bishop” for being “unchaste”. It is indeed likely that Jane refused the advances of the Bishop at one point or another, and this only serves to further the two-faced nature of sexuality. For if the church condemns the act of sex, then the Bishop would be hypocritcal in his “attempts” on Jane. At the same time I must admit I had not considered Jane's message to be one of liberation the way whatsmypassword? had. With a hopeful and happy message, Yeats would be arguing that liberating yourself sexually has positive influences on the soul. This would imply that such things are not devious by nature, but again, only labeled as such by society. This happens to be basically the same argument made in A forsaken love, in which the struggle between religion and not only sex, but love are brought to light. The the fact that the woman in question has children with the merman draws that final important connection between sex and love.

Sex is an act, but sexual repression is more. Sexual repression is a deeply telling characteristic of a character. When a reader stops to ask “Why?” the motives driving a character to hide their sexual nature reveal more about them than anticipated. In that sense the “Why?” question should be one of the first asked. Society from very early on, has tried to hide it's sexual nature, because in revealing it people and indeed society itself become vulnerable. Fear of that vulnerability drives people to lie and hide the sexual part of themselves, when it seems that literature advocates opening yourself and accepting sex as a part of life. Without it not one human being would remain, and society could not exist at all. Sex creates life, while life grants us the opportunity to write, and that seems like a good reason to let go and accept that sex happens.

Sources & Reading

A Theory of Scandal: Victorians, Homosexuality, and the Fall of Oscar Wilde

      Ari Adut, American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 111, No. 1 (July 2005), pp. 213-248 

Clark, Anna. "The History Of Sexuality." History Today 61.9 (2011): 57-58. World
      History Collection. Web. 9 May 2013.

Tuzin, Donald. "The Forgotten Passion: Sexuality And Anthropology In The Ages Of Victoria And    

      Bronislaw." Journal Of The History Of The Behavioral Sciences 30.2 (1994): 114-137. Academic 

      Search Complete. Web. 9 May 2013.
 http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/sextheory.html

Burden of Blood

During class today, the story of Bluebeard was recited to us, which was the basis for Carter's "The Bloody Chamber."  Though each piece shared the almost exact plot of the other save for the ending, I found that the stories differed greatly in the morals presented.

In the fairy tale, I got the sense that the woman would have been find if she had obeyed Bluebeard.  Perhaps she would even have gone on to find happiness with him.  When she opens the room and discovers the fate of her predecessors, though, we understand that she has fallen into the same trap as they had in her inability to follow the set guidelines of her captor, the authority figure.  The reason Bluebeard makes such a big deal of leaving the key in plain sight to tempt her in order to set up the moral of the story.  I feel that this fairy tale is trying to teach children to respect authority, but also teach little girls to obey their husbands to avoid trouble.

"The Bloody Chamber" flips this around and presents the story in a more feminist light.  The author goes to great lengths to paint an otherworldly setting and give the reader the sense that something is off, both in the setting and with the husband.  The woman is described as corruptible, but as a converse, we are also told that she is not corrupted by that point.  There's nothing wrong with the woman, and her innocence is assured.  Whereas the fairy tale points out the faults in its female character, in this story, she is portrayed as more human.  With that humanity comes a natural curiosity.  Even though she disobeys her husband and opens the room, the woman remains innocent in that curiosity is a natural human trait.  The woman remains blameless, and thus no moral of obedience can be determined.  This only serves to further exemplify the faults of the husband and how he is the one corrupt instead of the woman.

As a feminist statement, this fairy tale needed to be rewritten as women are not and should not be beholden to the commands of their husbands as described in Bluebeard.  The husband in "The Bloody Chamber" serves to prevent his wives from becoming actual people rather than possessions.  This is why he is the villain and why the story goes to such lengths to portray him as such rather than focus on the disobedience of the wife. 

50 Shades of Bloody Chamber

Angela Carter's "The Bloody Carter" is a very dark story based off the tale of Bluebeard, in which Bluebeard stores the bodies of his previous wives in a chamber. Carter's story also makes a lot of references to tales and legends such as King Mark, Dracula, Tristan and Isolde, and Red Riding Hood ("All the better to see you.") These references as well as the many others gives the reader an idea of the atmosphere the main character is in. It's dark and sinister and deals with a passionate 'love' which is really just an obsession. It also gives the reader an idea about how young and naive the new bride is.

The choker made of rubies is a fascinating symbol of the story because it represents wealth, extravagance, ownership, humiliation, and even survival. It represents survival because the girl tells the story of how people who escaped execution during the Reign of Terror would tie red ribbons around their necks. This is very appropriate for the girl considering she herself is almost beheaded. She overcame her sadistic Big Bad Wolf much in the way her own mother conquered her would-be victimizers. (the mother even shoots him much like in certain versions of Little Red Riding Hood.)

The Bloody Chamber

I think it's interesting that this story is told from the female's perspective. This sets up the story to be a feminist piece from the beginning. Because it was published in 1979, it is very likely that Angela Carter was influenced by the second wave of feminism throughout the late 1900s. Angela Carter herself was known for her feminist literature, and I believe that this fact is important when reading "The Bloody Chamber." Though the overarching theme within the story is feminist, and the heroine eventually "wins," there are also small hints of feminism throughout the piece.

At first, the short story appears to be focused on the narrator's journey into wifedom. On page 1484, she states, "And, in the midst of my bridal triumph, I felt a pang of loss as if, when he put the gold band on my finger, I had, in some way, ceased to be her child in becoming his wife." This one line in particular stood out to me as feminist. She feels as though she has lost part of herself in becoming a wife. Her identity shifts into some realm of which she is uncertain. By gaining her husband, she loses her mother. One identity cannot coexist with the other. She is either a wife or a daughter, but never both.

Crazy Jane..

Since we were discussing Yeats last week, I wanted to talk about Crazy Jane Talks to the Bishop. I am not gonna lie, the title is what caught my attention and my reasoning for writing about it. The poem is the interaction between a character Yeats based off of a woman he admired for her speech and lust for life. He ended up writing seven poems about the old woman, this being the sixth. The Bishop in the poem looks down at the woman and speaks negatively of her unkept appearance and unchaste life. In response the woman defends herself by teaching the Bishop of life and to welcome it while you can. I believe her response response to be given. Live while you can and enjoy what you have. Many people forget that lesson, or ignore it because of their status. While researching the poem, it suggests that the Bishop may have admired the woman at one point in time, and she rejected his advances. which is why he tried to hurt her verbally with the lines, "Those breasts are flat and fallen now, Those veins must soon be dry;". The woman's response is somewhat of a reflection on Yeats real life. He wrote this when he was almost 70, during a time when he reignited his own look at life and love. I liked that the rhythm drew me in with its sing song beat. It felt like a nursery rhyme almost, with each line rhyming with the next. Overall, I enjoyed the poem and liked that it was short. Even though it felt like there was little to read, there is a lot to interpret.

Case in Point.

On Monday, we discussed the structure of the short novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. My group specifically discussed the choice to name the novel "The Strange CASE" in the context of a British mystery novel. The idea that it is set up as a case-study invites readers into a suspension of reality. It makes the novel seem more realistic within a time period where industrialism and reality were so pervasive in society. During the Victorian era it seems as though there were two types of novels- ones based in reality and ones based in a fairy world (i.e. Importance of Being Ernest vs. Alice in Wonderland). Within The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson brings these two worlds together. By having an outside narrator, readers view the novel through a lens of unknowing. There is "evidence" such as letters throughout the book, but readers are kept in the dark for the most part throughout the novel.

I feel as though the novel also comments on the Victorian era itself. Dr. Jekyll is absorbed in separating these two halves of himself.  He is so concerned with becoming a perfect version of himself that he creates Mr. Hyde as a cover for his own imperfections. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are separate individuals, despite being literally the same person. Within the Victorian era, Industrialization was prominent. The idea that there were new, bigger, better ways of doing things was prominent. However, ideals and values can become disturbed by this quest for power. In the same way, Dr. Jekyll's ultimate demise was trying to create a "better" version of himself by fully separating himself from Mr. Hyde.

Hidden Hyde

I must admit that when I first read "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," I interpreted the text in the most obvious ways I could. I just thought that the personalities were simply representing mental illness such as bipolarism or disassociate identity disorder, creating the archetype that would go on to inspire several famous characters such as the Hulk, Harvey Two-Face, and the alleged case of Sybil. While this is the true case about the archetype, our class discussion on Monday made me look a little deeper into the themes. Jekyll is clearly repressed and needs to escape from his repressed Victorian lifestyle of propriety and etiquette. He turns to a potion that makes him feel younger, energetic, and yet cruel and without remorse or thought of consequence. To me, this seemed like a metaphor for alcoholism. An addiction that someone disappears into to lower inhibitions and forget about their life and eventually they become consumed by the power of it and suffer horrible withdrawal without it. I never would have ever looked at this text and assumed it was about sexual politics, but now I guess I can point out the constant struggle between the id (Hyde) and Jekyll (the ego) as they battle with their desires and need to be apart of society.

This is an intervention. Alice, put down the bottle.

    As I said in class, I firmly believe Alice is an entitled brat. She takes without consideration without regards for ownership and then demands that others solve the problems she creates. On further reflection though I can see this as a vehicle for criticism of the upper class, and possibly the monarchy. Being so well educated at such a young age Alice is clearly well off. If she is taken as a literal representation of the upper class, then even the fact that she is a child is a slight jab. That's how the court system behaves, like a bunch of children concerned with themeselves and not the task at hand. Alice's actions show little regard for the ownership of those less fortunate than her. ie the working class. For example any time she eats or drinks something that say "Eat Me" she follows the direction (societal expectations) even if it means stealing from the White Rabbit (subordinate to the Queen). I don't mean to say that Lewis Carroll is a communist advocating for the destruction of the upper class, simply that those with property simply take it from those with the means of production.

    The Duchess who should be another representation of authority also shows reform and is kinder to Alice when confronted with her own execution. Alice does show reform after she is confronted directly with elements of her personality that are innappropriate, as well. This is most notable after her interactions with the Duchess and the Queen. This argument becomes even more prominent if one has the opportunity to read Through the Looking Glass, where Alice actually becomes the queen herself and her age demonstrates she is possibly not the best queen. Through her own folly though, the child as queen does manage to pull herself together and improve.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Finally something that is not dark themed and gloomy! (Excluding Alice and Wonderland of course).

I really like Oscar Wilde’s writing style, and enjoy reading his work. This was also not my first time to read The Importance of Being Earnest, and probably not the last. My favorite part is the muffin scene.  In general I find the play to be very lighthearted and funny (which was probably one goal for the play).  I think Oscar Wilde’s main goal, however, was to make a satire of Victorian society, even the title of the play serves a mocking paradox and joke. Both the name “Earnest” (which was popular and thought to be given to respectable men) and the act of being earnest (grim/humorless nowadays; jumping between social classes in Victorian days) are used to mock the traditions and customs, along with courtship and marriage. All of the characters are over the top in some way or another and represent some value of Victorian society as well. For example, Lady Bracknell embodies all rules and social rituals. She is very materialistic and locks onto even the smallest/ most unimportant details of Jack and his back ground. Gwendolen and Cecily also both represent the purist of love and marriage as different angles. The men both follow the customs of courtship too, but their actions are extremely ridiculous and over the top. Cecily’s medieval romance fantasies also further fuel and point out the fascination the Victorian society had with medieval poems, stories, and art. Victorian society is clearly being mocked, and I think that is what makes each character so funny and the story lighthearted.  This play is defiantly a hit for me. 

A forsaken love

Matthew Arnold's Forsaken Merman has a lot going on. It reminds me of an ocean itself. On the surface there's a story of a merman falling in love with a human woman and her birthing his children then leaving him on Easter. What?? But if you look deeper you see the confliction between love and religion. The merman becomes increasingly depressing as the poem goes on yet still loves this woman. She, on the other hand, doesn't quite reveal her motives as to why she leaves the land for a merman and then decides to return due to hearing the church bells. Was religion that important to her? Or did she never love him at all? Or maybe the sea was too much of a difference from the civilization on land? All of these questions played in my head. Another thing that struck me was the influence of music in this poem. The children's voices, the Murmansk repetition of down, down, down and dear children and the church bells are all very influential to the melancholy atmosphere the poem draws on.

Deeper into the Goblin Market

I enjoyed reading Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti, but I felt my first reading was too straightforward. I saw the poem as strictly allegorical with strong Christian themes, as it almost seems a reenactment of the scene with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. With its heavy description and deep narrative, I found it a strong allegory, but I wanted to learn about some other reading perspectives to delve deeper into the richness of the poem. When searching for other interpretations of Goblin Market, I came across a helpful article on Poetry Foundation that provided a few different readings, such as the psychoanalytic interpretations of the poem’s sexual elements and the Marxist criticism of separation of domestic and commercial spheres. If anyone is interested in reading these, you can find them embedded in this biography: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/christina-rossetti

Complex or Hypocracy?

   It seems odd to me that in an era marked in part by the resurgence of chivalry, that there be such a discrepancy on how to deal with the agency of women. The Lady of Shalot is left with the the task of weaving, using her mirror both for her work and to see the world. These things are distinctly feminine and all is well for her as long as she continues her "women's work". It is not until she leaves her work and the tower to serve her own purposes that she is is cast down and killed by the curse. Aside from whatever commentary this may have about creating art or industrialism, this acts a "lesson" for how women should behave, "If you leave your station in life this is what will happen to you".
   In My Last Duchess, the women in question is held as a on the wall. The late duchess is his example of how he deals with women that won't obey or appreciate him. This is even more heavy handed because the duke directly takes the life of the duchess who leaves him. What's even more disparaging here is that the Duke is in the middle of dowry discussion, which shows that Duchess for him are easily replaced. His choice of art in the statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse simply furthers this.
    The difference between the two views here on the agency of women, is that Browning's poem could be seen ostensibly as a way of bringing this negative view on female agency into light for criticism, while Tennyson seems to have simply used it as a metaphor. I don't know for certain what Tennyson's take on women's agency was, but the way he uses it here implies that he sees it as a fact of life. Even if one tries to see the Lady of Shalot as bringing the problem into light the way Duchess does it still seems just like a idea thrown in with everything else he wanted to say. Though this may just be a vented frustration of mine, to me it hardly seems to even call out chivalry's name.

Duke, you silver tongued devil you

"... Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together..."

I found Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" to be an enticing poem, as it engages its readers on a number of levels - on a psychological and historical level among many. Quite noticeably on a psychological level because we only get the duke's thoughts. We have to piece together the story ourselves. The author forces its readers to become involved with the poem, so we can get a clear understanding of it, which makes it all the more fun.

The most fascinating element of the poem is the duke character, who is also the speaker. He lures his readers with his charming qualities and wonderful use of language. However, he has a monstrous side and an excessive demand for control. The biggest example of this is when duke has his wife murdered because she couldn't save her flirtatious glances for the him. "... I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together..." This is an interesting choice of words to describe the death of the duchess. It's not quite as dark as one expect it would be. It's as if the duke is trying to avoid the truth.

Our Leading Lady

As soon as I was introduced to Adeline’s character while reading The Romance of the Forest, I knew that there was a reason the Radcliffe chose to have this woman as our heroine. As the book was starting out, I could tell that many readers (especially female readers) would have a problem with Adeline because she came off as the typical damsel in distress. It seemed that she was constantly being dramatic, fainting, or crying. She is described as being young and beautiful, and these things only add on to the idea that she is also naïve and innocent; almost to a fault. If you take her at face value, she seems like a weak protagonist. However, I also got the feeling that there had to be more to Adeline. There’s no way that this woman is nothing past her crying and gentleness. I argued this in our class discussion, and it was a risky argument to make, considering that at that point we had only read the first part of the novel and we still didn’t know much about her. As I went on to read further in the book, I found that my argument was a pretty solid one. Although Adeline seems like a fragile being, the mysterious things about her that are revealed as the novel goes on make us appreciate her character a little more. She is in fact a strong character, and I’m glad that I gave her the benefit of the doubt from the beginning. I believe the Adeline’s true strength is revealed towards the end of the book (for example when she refuses to marry the Marquis despite all the trouble that it may cause) as the plot begins to shift and we begin to understand who she really is. These things allowed me to view her as a woman with high moral standards and the perfect heroine for a mysterious gothic romance.

Deceiving Beauty

Going off of what we spoke about in class on monday, my group decided to view the story in the perspective of Adeline. We did not like the idea that she is a feeble and weak female lead character in the storyline. We though of her more as someone who is playing the innocent victim. When we are first introduced to her through La Motte, he raves of her sheer beauty. She is on the floor crying in the hands of the man who wants to get rid of her. Yet what if all of it was simply an act of her own doing to get what she has intended. I am not saying that she purposely wanted the man to drag her, but she may be playing along so she can leave the hellhole in which she is in. There is a section that states "there was a penetrating sweetness in her blue eyes, which indicated an intelligent and amicable mind." This helps back up the fact that she could be playing everyone in her game. She uses her beauty to somewhat seduce La Motte and befriends Madame La Motte in her gain. Whenever Madame La Motte questions her of her past and how she came to be of where they discovered her, Adeline tears up and states she cannot talk about it. It is only later that she reveals the truth but for awhile her character can seem deceiving and tricky. As fun as it may seem that Adeline is like this, it may be that she is simply as the story portrays her. I find Romance of the Forest to be a much more fascinating read, as I keep reading on I find it harder to stop. The story seemed odd at the beginning and the direction of where it was going but now it flows and brings curiosity. The gothic aspects come through in the description of the abbey and the fear the characters have of the forest and the dark inside. The noises and thoughts of the characters add to the imagery that helps set the tone for the gothic aspects.

Grief or Misplaced Passion?

Grief is a common theme throughout Gothic literature, however the way that the characters handle grief within Castle of Otranto seems different than other Gothic literature that I have experienced.  Rather than dealing with grief outright, all characters within the story mask their grief at one point or another.  After Conrad’s death, Manfred does not mourn, but instead his grief is manifested through his desire for another heir.  Rather than lay his son to rest in a proper burial, Manfred pursues Isabella.  This begs the question, if Conrad had lived, would Manfred still have eventually pursued Isabella, or was this his way of coping with his only son’s death? Manfred seems to see only Conrad, and never Matilda, as his child until Matilda’s death, however he truly seems to mourn the loss of Matilda.  Is he truly mourning the loss of his child, or is he mourning what he now realizes is the total loss of his estate?